“And when We said, ‘Enter this town and eat freely from it wherever you wish. Enter the gate humbly, and say, “Relieve us of our sins.” We shall forgive you your sins, and We shall increase those who do good.’ But the wrongdoers substituted a word other than that which had been said to them, so We sent down upon the wrongdoers a punishment from heaven because of their defiant disobedience.”

“And when We said, ‘Enter this town’:” A town is called a qaryah because it gathers its inhabitants together. From the same root is miqrāh, a water basin, because it gathers water. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It was Jericho, the town of the tyrants. There was among them a people from the remnant of Aad, called the Amalekites, whose leader was Uj ibn Unuq. It was also said: Balqa. Mujahid said: Jerusalem. Al-Dahhak said: It was Ramla.